I-70

About I-70

Also known as Mark Twain Expressway, Vail Pass.

From Cove Fort, UT (I-15) to Baltimore, MD (I-695)

Interstate 70 is a major east-west route running about 2,151 miles from Cove Fort, Utah, east to Baltimore, Maryland. It crosses ten states and passes through a wide range of terrain, from the high desert and mountains of the West to the plains of the central United States and the wooded ridges of the Appalachians. The route is one of the principal cross-country corridors of the Interstate system and carries heavy long-distance freight and passenger traffic across the middle of the country.

In the West the route climbs through the Colorado Rockies, including the deep walls of Glenwood Canyon and the crossing of the Continental Divide at the Eisenhower-Johnson Memorial Tunnel. East of the mountains it runs across Kansas and Missouri, through St. Louis and Kansas City, and on through Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, serving major cities such as Indianapolis and Columbus. It then crosses the narrow northern neck of West Virginia at Wheeling before climbing over the mountains of Pennsylvania and Maryland to reach its eastern end at Baltimore.

The road connects a long string of metropolitan areas and ties together several other major north-south Interstates along its path. Its western mountain sections include some of the most challenging highway engineering in the country, while its central segments run for long distances across open plains and farmland. The route serves as a backbone for commerce moving between the eastern seaboard and the interior West.

State-by-state mileage

State	Miles
Utah	231.7
Colorado	449.2
Kansas	424.2
Missouri	251.7
Illinois	155.9
Indiana	156.6
Ohio	225.6
West Virginia	14.5
Pennsylvania	167.9
Maryland	93.6
Total	2,170.9

History

Interstate 70 was among the first routes funded under the Interstate Highway Act of 1956, and an early section near Topeka, Kansas, is often cited among the first Interstate construction projects. The route was built over the following decades, with the Colorado mountain segments among the last and most difficult to complete.

The Glenwood Canyon section, finished in 1992, was one of the final pieces and is regarded as a landmark of sensitive highway design, using viaducts and tunnels to thread the narrow canyon. The Eisenhower-Johnson Memorial Tunnel under the Continental Divide opened in stages in the 1970s.

Major cities and places

Notable features

• Glenwood Canyon
• Eisenhower-Johnson Memorial Tunnel
• Continental Divide crossing

Did you know

• Runs about 2,151 miles across ten states from Cove Fort, Utah, to Baltimore, Maryland.
• Among the first routes funded under the 1956 Interstate Highway Act.
• The Glenwood Canyon section opened in 1992 and is noted for its sensitive design.
• Crosses the Continental Divide at the Eisenhower-Johnson Memorial Tunnel in Colorado.
• Has no Interstate route directly west of its terminus at Cove Fort, where it meets I-15.